Trump's $1.8 Billion Self-Dealing with His Own Justice Department
More of the Same Self Enrichment Circus
Trump is using the presidency for naked self-enrichment. His $1.8 billion settlement with his own Department of Justice (DOJ) against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) proves it once again. The deal started when President Trump sued the IRS over a tax return leak that hit him along with approximately 405,400 others. In exchange for dropping a $10 billion claim, the DOJ created a nearly $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” paid for by taxpayers and placed under Trump’s control to direct toward his favorite causes. The IRS exercised none of its normal defenses in the case. Those defenses would very likely have virtually eliminated any monetary settlement at all. In my more than 50 years of tax specialization, I have never seen the IRS give any taxpayer — not one — ironclad assurances against future examinations, even after the worst agency mistakes. The IRS only makes narrow, non-binding accommodations in rare cases after a detailed audit finds total compliance.
Trump received far more. Incredibly, in addition to this fund, the agreement included a sweeping order that forever bars the IRS from auditing Trump, his family, and his businesses on already-filed returns. It is clear the settlement had nothing to do with legitimate damages. It was pure personal self-serving power abuse. Just consider the absurdity: if all 405,400 affected taxpayers received the same $1.8 billion payout Trump demanded, the total would reach nearly $730 trillion. That is more than seven times the entire global money supply. Republican senators pushed back hard. A court paused the fund, and the administration has retreated from it. But the audit immunity remains in place.
This settlement violates basic constitutional principles. No president in history has used the Department of Justice he controls to grant himself and his family lifetime protection from normal tax enforcement. It creates one set of rules for Trump and another for the other 405,400 similarly situated taxpayers.
This is more of the same pattern and follows a growing list of perverse self-aggrandizing pursuits:
Forcing his name ahead of John F. Kennedy on the Kennedy Center in an ego-driven overriding of a Congressional directive.
Demanding his face adorn a $250 bill — an act of ego so absurd no prior president has ever attempted it.
Appointing Bill Pulte, a man with zero national security credentials, as Acting Director of National Intelligence.
Insisting on unconstitutional layered tariffs (and asserting new unconstitutional tariffs after his earlier one have been declared unconstitutional) while doling out billions in socialist-style bailouts to farmers crippled by his own policies.
Ruthless revenge campaigns against fellow Republicans such as Bill Cassidy and Thomas Massie who dared to cross him, knowing full well that this severely damaged the Republican brand and its chances to succeed in the midterms.
Endorsing Ken Paxton over the far more qualified John Cornyn, in a blatant display of cronyism with absolute disregard of how it may have handed a safe Republican seat to the Democrats.
Launching vindictive perjury investigations against political enemies like Letitia James, E. Jean Carroll, and Jim Comey.
And this only scratches the surface.
Defenders who wave away every Trump action as necessary toughness need to face facts. When a president settles with himself for billions in taxpayer money, demands audit immunity his own DOJ cannot legally promise, and faces backlash even from his own party, it is not fighting the deep state — it is becoming it. True fiscal responsibility and equal treatment under the law demand we call this out. No leader gets a pass on undermining separation of powers. Americans who believe in limited government must insist on better from everyone who holds power.